Branding The brand is our promise to the customer, communicating to them what they can expect when they purchase the product (Williams, 2012). In order to develop a branding strategy there are seven elements that need to be considered. These are that the brand must be tied to the business model, be consistent, connect emotionally with the customer, reward and cultivate loyalty, the strategy must be measurable, it must position away from competitors, and it should be flexible (Sorenson, 2012). The latter is important because as a new company, we need to be able to make adjustments if the initial branding strategy does not work out. The American Snacks brand is a clear statement of intent in the Japanese market, and one of the benefits of this approach is that such a brand will also resonate in the American market. The packaging and promotion will reflect American origins of the product to all consumers. Domestically, the brand will be associated with classic products, and internationally, America's historic...

Major snack food brands combine healthy markups with broad distribution, so such a pricing approach still leaves room for a small company to be profitable. Pricing in such a way that the market views us as an everyday product is important for selling high volumes. Additionally, when American Snacks moves into the premium market, such as Whole Foods and those type of stores, we will be pricing below the health food snacks and chips. Thus, we can capture more of the market. The slight premium pricing strategy will also be adopted in the Japanese market, where it will help to cover the extra costs of shipping to Japan. This pricing strategy supports the branding strategy because the brand is going to be a key point of differentiation. In…